Those numbers are all you need to know about why I’ll be in New York this weekend, and rooting so hard for the Seahawks to beat Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Let’s start with 14. That’s how many years I was blessed to play in the great Northwest for the Seahawks, joining the team for its expansion season in 1976. After being drafted in the fourth round earlier that year by Houston, I was cut by the Oilers late in training camp, then recalled and traded to Seattle. I was extremely grateful to get a second chance to play professionally, and if you’d told me at the time that I’d still be there 14 years later, wrapping up my career, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have believed you.

But, I was very fortunate to catch on with the team and work my way into the starting lineup. I had the good luck of playing with two very fine quarterbacks in Dave Krieg and Jim Zorn for most of my career, as well as with other outstanding teammates too numerous to mention. We went from winning two games in our inaugural season, to a winning record just two years later, and then reaching the playoffs and the AFC title game five seasons after that.

I loved every minute of living in and playing for Seattle, and I wouldn’t trade those 14 years for anything.

Now, what about the number 12? That represents the famous “12th Man” in Seattle, the greatest fan base of any NFL franchise. The support for the team is legendary, and though the incredible noise level at games in CenturyLink Field is a huge advantage for the team, home games in Seattle always have been ear-shattering. We played in the old Kingdome and that place rocked every Sunday afternoon. The Seattle fans are the best in the league, hands down, and they deserve a world championship for their nearly four decades of absolute devotion to the team.

And then there’s the number zero. This one hurts! Zero is the number of Super Bowl titles we’ve won as a franchise, and I’d love to see the Seahawks join the club as world champions. We’ve been close, having lost in the AFC Championship Game to the Raiders in 1983, and much more recently, losing to the Steelers in Super Bowl XL. The ’83 game still stings. We had beaten the Raiders twice in the regular season, but couldn’t do much right on either side of the ball in the conference championship and they took advantage of that. I still regret not getting a chance to play on the world’s biggest football stage, but a win this weekend erases the goose egg in the title department, and that would be fantastic.

Of course it won’t be easy. Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, and he has a lot of weapons to test Seattle’s outstanding secondary. I think the Seahawks will be able to run the ball against the Broncos and that will help keep Peyton on the sideline and hopefully limit Denver’s possessions. I like Russell Wilson a lot, too, and if he plays within himself and his immense talents, I think he’s going to be just fine.

It’s fitting in some respects that we’re facing the Broncos. They were a great rival of ours when I played and we were both in the AFC West. We had a lot of classic match-ups and I loved playing against and beating them, especially in Denver. To tell you the truth, a hit I delivered in one of our games against the Broncos is still one of my favorite all-time football memories.

So, 14, 12, 0. They’re not quite a winning lottery lineup, but they are the numbers that mean the most to me and why I think some other numbers … say, 23-17, are what we’ll see on the scoreboard late Sunday night, as the Seahawks take home their first ever world championship.